June

Sophie & Mummy in church

Mrs Spoonie & 'Teaspoon' Sophie were in church last weekend. It was Sophie's cousin Emily's Holy Communion. Whilst waiting for the ceremony to start I managed to get this shot.





Vintage Inns Food Shoot



I've been back on location in one of Vintage Inns' country pubs - this time, just outside London. The brief was to shoot a more lifestyle approach to the food and it's environment, so we used daylight, mixed with flash to balance the lighting out. these daylight images form part of the new website, menus, promotional material - and advertising in the Times and Daily Express.

All the images were shot using fast prime lenses, for the low available light, and to give a reduced depth of field where possible...











As I mentioned in a previous posting - it's June....so it must be Christmas!





Later in the day we changed the mood, for a more natural evening meal theme. Using available light, plus a couple of small spotlights, I shot these editorial-style images using a couple of prime lenses - NO flash...it kills the atmosphere!













If you're in a Vintage Inn pub soon, you'll see these new images used everywhere...




June Weddings - Susan & David



Suzy & David were married in Ashton-in-Makerfield, at St Edmund & St Oswald's - a lovely old church with a private driveway - well off the beaten track. Originally from Norwalk, Ohio, Suzi married her university sweetheart David, a trainee accountant. The wedding was a small, family-orientated affair, with a great atmosphere...and a very 'traditionally English' feel to it, which Suzy loved.

Here are some of my favourites from the day...



























The Deacon was brilliant - everything he said during the ceremony almost had a punchline to it - a very funny, articulate and affable man....if only all clergy were this relaxed about the day...

































Suzy only took a few minutes in the morning to get used to me and the Nikons. The transformation from this shy, petite, almost china doll...to a camera-loving (quiet) extrovert was remarkable. They took little to no direction at all during the formals, and portraits. In fact, for a laugh I asked Suzy to jump up on a table and pose against the lit curtain to see what we'd get...and I love it! I'm sure Suzy does too...









At the time of writing, the couple are still away on honeymoon. But Suzy's father has just sent this message...

You are amazing! I just saw the pictures of Susan and David’s wedding. All I can say is “WOW”. I worked as a photographer some twenty years ago for a small studio taking wedding shots and I never even came close to your work. Thank you so much and you have made a special day even memorable.

Ben Boss.




June Weddings - Maureen & Scott




Maureen & Scott were married in Crete recently, but wanted a big family reception on their return from honeymoon. I was contacted to shoot the party at Manchester Golf Club - the same venue where Mrs Spoony & myself had our wedding nearly four years ago. It was great going back and seeing the place in full swing again, breaking off here and there to grab some family group shots as guests arrived.

Plus, we got to walk around the grounds for ten minutes, shooting some formals and portraits of the happy couple - in the glorious evening sunshine. These are some of my favourites from the event...





























The two Nikon D700 cameras were fitted with 35mm and 85mm prime lenses...and no flash (whoo-hoo!) for a change. The atmosphere of the whole evening shone through...





















Maureen and Scott were on fire....two First Dances, just to show everyone how it should be done. Nice one...









June Weddings - Hannah & Dan



Hannah & Dan were married at The Palm House in Liverpool on a blisteringly hot June day at The Palm Hose in Sefton Park. I'd never been to the venue before, so met the couple on the morning before the big day, for a walk around and to go through the day's schedule. Here are some of my favourite images from the day...











The church where Hannah & Dan were married is literally across the road from Hannah's family home. But...after all those years of dreaming of being married there, from being a small child, when the big day arrived, the church was covered head-to-toe in scaffolding while the masonry was being maintained! What are the odds? Still, Hannah & Dan saw the funny side to it all, and never let it ruin their day - in fact they made jokes about it all day, and posed for shots against the corrugated fencing....it's trendy, yeah? ;-)











What are the odds? The main church entrance, hidden in corrugated fencing...





After the church ceremony, it was off on a Magical Mystery Tour (sorry, couldn't resist), with some shots being taken on Penny Lane, one of the places special to the couple...













This is my favourite shot of the day - unstaged and completely naturally, and as featured on Wedtog's website (below).













For the first dance, Dan slipped into something more comfortable - a pair of crocodile skin shoes for the upbeat rock 'n' roll number...




Wedtog - Image Of The Day





Wedtog's Image Of The Day for today is one of mine. Taken last week at The Palm House in Liverpool, (as above). The guys at Wedtog would like to use another of my images next week too....which is nice.


To see the actual web page, please click here



Your Manchester Wedding front cover



This month's front cover of Your Manchester Wedding magazine is one of my images, taken least October. The Editor asked for a selection, and ultimately chose this image, since the black background allowed for design for the graphics.

Special Thanks to Mich & Ian for allowing me to use the image, which was shot on my trusty Nikon D3 with 70-200mm zoom.

Inside is a six page article on Jacq & Rich's wedding, originally shot by myself - where Jacq is interviewed about her big day - the venue, photographer, theme etc.

http://www.countyweddingmagazines.com



It's June...hmmm - must be Christmas then!

Yep - it's June, so I've been down in London shooting some new food shots for a large brewery chain. These are some of Part One really - the second shoot (for another division) is this week. All the images were shot on Nikon D700 cameras with 60mm and 105mm macro lenses...













Totally off brief, this is my favourite image from the day. The chef preparing all the lovely dishes for us to shoot. Much more 'me' this one...shot using available light only...









Part Two to follow soon....


June Weddings - Ruth & James

Ruth & James were actually married May 28th, but I went away the morning after to Anglesey for a few days. Their wedding day was an overcast, typical Manchester affair, with a promise of some sunshine after 1pm. Hmmmm, fingers crossed then. They were married at St Mark's in Worsley, with the reception at Cheadle House, so there was a little motorway driving involved between the bridal preparations at Cheadle House, to church and back. But, true to the forecast, the weather changed perfectly for their 1.30pm ceremony. I was impressed.

Breaking with my normal working method, I took a telephoto zoom lens with me, to try and speed the photography process up, especially if the weather was going to be a problem. Here are some of my favourites from the day...

Maybe it's a summer thing, but the majority of my wedding work seems to be in colour; I just really like the challenge of getting good colour results in dodgy lighting situations.



















And again, it was great to have an almost-free reign with what I wanted to shoot on the day. It's good having clients with the confidence of not going for lots of formals. We shot our groups in 20 mins at the church, with a further 20 mins for our portraits down at Bridgewater canal.











Ruth's stepfather set up as a duo with his friend and entertained the guests for an hour before the evening party started. His final song was the Simon & Garfunkel classic "Mrs Robinson' (Ruth's new married name). A spontaneuos first dance broke out to all the family clapping and cheering...



...then a few minutes later...we did it all over again, this time at a more sedate pace...




Hi Mick,

The photos are absolutely fantastic, thank you. As instructed, we were able to enjoy going through the slide show whilst having a cold beer.

Kind Regards,

Ruth and James